


What Comes After The Heartbreak

by LeSwanSong



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien is very broken, Angst, F/M, Luka is a sweetheart, Marinette is happy, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-10-23
Packaged: 2020-12-28 23:08:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21144746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeSwanSong/pseuds/LeSwanSong
Summary: Original Prompt: just give me a fic in which after all the chaos of the finale, ladybug is sad chat asks what’s going on and since she doesn’t know who else to trust (and chat now actually has a girlfriend) she tells him that she has given up on her first love because he will never love her , and she is so sad that she tells him all the reasons why this won’t ever happen (practically saying she isn’t good enough) and chat is getting angrier and angrier and she speaks and then she suddenly drops “i mean who im trying to fool he is adrien agreste, he would never see me as more than a friend”chat.exe has stopped working and he is very very broken





	1. Chapter One

She sat atop the rooftops in their usual meeting place but even from a distance he could see something was wrong. Paris moved and echoed around them and yet her hand stayed fixed on what he assumed was the screen of her yo-yo. Her normal straight posture was gone, her shoulders were slumped and she looked defeated.

With his brows furrowed, he slowly approached and sat down silently beside her. She didn’t look up or acknowledge his arrival but he knew that she had noticed him.

“Hey…” he said with a hint of sadness in his voice that he hadn’t intended to be there.

He wasn’t surprised when she didn’t respond, this had quickly become the new norm and he knew that she would come out of her shell in time, she just needed some time.

He knew that losing Master Fu had been too much for her. He knew that she sometimes let that get the better of her. That day and all of its events. Her mind went to a dark place where she could see all other possible outcomes, ones that she wouldn’t voice to him because the only words he could find to bring her back from those thoughts had grown stale and dull compared to the still-fresh wounds she was feeling.

He felt helpless. He couldn’t take away the pain and guilt she was feeling or even bring a shine of light into her life she was just… gone. The proud and strong hero had been replaced by someone that was uncertain of everything and was barely holding things together. He had Kagami to help hold him together, she was his light that helped brighten his day but he was unsure if Ladybug had one.

Something had changed within his partner that day and he wasn’t sure what. She still smiled and laughed but they felt hollow and distant.

Slowly the red-spotted heroine lifted her head and let out a sigh. Her yo-you flicked closed in her hands as she finished looking at whatever the screen had displayed. “Hey…” she said, her voice soft and full of despair although you wouldn’t be able to pick up on it unless you were looking, “You ready for patrol?” She was now looking at him, a soft smile lay across her lips and her face told him she was happy but her eyes gave it away, they were the one thing she couldn’t get to lie.

His eyes flickered closed and he shook his head at the sound of the familiar question, she was avoiding talking, it was easier to outrun your problems rather than face them. He didn’t mind playing a game of cat and bug with her just not when she was hiding her thoughts.

“No… Because you aren’t. What’s going on inside your head, Ladybug?”

A question so simple but it had its effect on her. The smile she had plastered across her lips faltered for the briefest of moments and he saw the pain she had been trying to hide in her eyes as tears rose to the surface before she quickly pushed them back down. Her head sharply snapped away from him to hide the few remaining tears she couldn’t force to retreat.

“I’m fine Chat, just-”

“Master Fu?” he assumed as he quickly cut her off but she shook her head.

“Not him something- someone else,” she quickly corrected, “Are you sure you-”

He raised his hand and stopped her, “I’m sure Ladybug, I can’t stand to see you like this anymore.”

A smile spread across her lips, unlike the ones before this one was real, her eyes told him so.

A sigh escaped her and she nodded, “Okay then, I trust you…” she whispered giving him the feeling that this was something big. Her head turned to the street below and he watched as she took a deep breath. “The boy…” she started.

Ah, so that’s what it was, the infamous boy, the one who had stolen Ladybugs heart out from under him. Normally he’d seeth in anger or hed wish to be the boy at the mention of him but now… He still cared about her and this mysterious boy although not as much as he used too. He was happy with his current path but the start of that sentence made him dread what was about to come.

“He’s never noticed me and…” she choked back a few stay tears as she tried to collect her train of thought. “He’s happy… with another girl,” she said bluntly, she turned her head slightly to look at him and he saw the redness in her eyes before she turned her attention back to the streets below, “I think they might be dating actually.”

Adrien felt his cheeks grow red with shock and a little bit of anger as she continued.

“And I’m happy that he’s happy, she makes him laugh and-” a small whimper ripped through her as she tried to continue her happy tone, she had clearly been holding this in for a while now and she was cracking under the pressure, he was expecting her to stop but her strength won out and she pushed forward. “I’ve never seen him smile so much and I think it’s time I moved on… They get along so well… They share so many interests and there was no way that he was ever going to look at me, not while she was there…” her voice wobbled slightly as the emotions within her took over.

He frowned out of concern, this was a lot more than he was expecting. He studied her face as she once again fought to regain her composure, the wind rushed through the stray pieces of hair that hung freely from her twin tails. He slowly shuffled in closer to her, it was a poor man’s attempt to comfort her without pressuring her to continue.

“She’s so much better than me, I’m clumsy and stumble over my words when I’m around him making it difficult to carry, let alone have a conversation with him although I have gotten better. She also doesn’t have these,” she indicated to the twin tails her had been tied into, the same ones that had made his head turn, “I mean I look like a child with these.”

He felt tears well up in his own eyes at her words. He didn’t know if they were from second-hand heartbreak or the anger currently bubbling away within him.

Finally, her eyes closed and they remained that way as she finally broke. “I knew I was never good enough,” she whispered.

Adrien clenched the stone beside him. He felt it crack slightly from the amount of force he was inflicting upon it. He had been quiet and listened intently as she explained but never good enough? Where in the world did she get that thought? She was brave and strong, he could only imagine what she was like without the mask. He had lost count of the daydreams he had had about her, the nights he spent staring up at the ceiling because he couldn’t stop thinking about what a future with her might look like.

How blind could this boy be blind to her? She was smart and funny and although her life outside of the mask remained a closely guarded secret known only to her and the small red Kwami she wielded, he had managed to piece a few things together over the past few months.

She had a passion for clothes and videogames, she couldn’t manage her time extremely well but her friends always seemed to be at the top of that list. She had her flaws but that had only made her more endearing for him. She was a mystery he still wanted to unravel even though he had moved on.

He swore if he ever found out who this guy was he was going to beat him senseless. She’s… She’s… Her!

“I mean who I’m trying to fool he is Adrien Agreste, he would never see me as more than a friend”

Wait, hold, what did she just say? He was wrapped up in his own thoughts that he hadn’t exactly been paying attention but did she just say? No, she couldn’t have. He’s obviously hearing things… right? She didn’t just say, Adrien Agreste… There was no way, he was…

“Chat?” she asked, her hands covered her mouth, she too couldn’t believe that she had said that. Slowly he pulled his eyes away from the signpost his eyes had fixated on to look at her.

Her mask disappeared from around her face and a face he vaguely recognized but couldn’t place because of the shock stared back at him. “I’m?” He couldn’t process what was going on right now inside his head.

“I- I- didn’t mean to say that… I- Please don’t tell, I’m-”

He nodded absentmindedly as she rambled off excuses, he had definitely heard her. He was the blind fool. O god… He- No… All this time? But? Who? Who was she? That was the question he needed to be answered. Who?

His partner let out a frustrated groan beside him before she stood up and dusted away the dirt from her suit, “We best start our Patrol, You coming?”

He nodded again and slowly rose to his feet and followed her. His mind still struggling to cope with who she could possibly be. One thing he knew for sure was that Plagg would never let him forget this.


	2. Chapter Two

His eyes searched the white, flat ceiling above his head, focusing on trying to spot the tiny and individual brushstrokes of the paintbrush that had swept across it as the rays of the early morning sun danced across it. He had spent another sleepless night staring up at it, it was the only thing he could do to keep his mind off of it, off of her… His heart pained at the memory, sitting on that rooftop seemed like yesterday, he could still feel the soft breeze against his back, the tears slowly running over her red mask and down her puffy cheeks… He knew he would never see her like that again, that vulnerable and isolated.**  
**

He struggled with that knowledge, the knowledge that he had brought her to tears as he had been the one to hurt her, her, his partner, the girl that had owned his heart for well over a year, he had hurt her…

Adrien wanted to ask her more about what he had done to make her feel that way so he could make sure it never happened again but with the weight of her heavy emotions gone from her shoulders, she had slowly returned to the happy partner he had known, singing songs of a new boy in her life. He didn’t want to dampen her brightening mood, not when she appeared happy and full of life again.

Days turned into weeks and weeks into months. He kept his mouth shut and his thoughts and questions to himself whenever they met no matter how badly he wanted to ask how they had met.

During their regular patrols, he would smile and nod with her as she enthusiastically spoke about the boy, her wild and expressive hand movements only added to his smile as she described the events of the day she had spent with him and her friends, he loved seeing her so much like her regular self although he disliked hearing about the boy. The boy that he steadily found himself wishing was him even with Kagami and the prospect of something new on the horizon at his side. He had bitten his tongue when she announced that the boy and her were officially a pair. He smiled and he told her he was happy for her and he covered his disappointment at the news with tails of what he and Kagami had done that day. He did that to try and make her jealous, he hoped she would be surprised but that backfired when she congratulated him and started helping him plan his next date with her.

Pretending that he was fine with her being in love with someone else was starting to take its toll, he had grown distant with the girl he had tried to move on with, eventually leading to that relationship’s end. He was sad at the loss of her, she had taught him so much about himself and what he wanted from a relationship.

He spent several days maybe even weeks wallowing in sadness, he was alone again desperately trying to catch the attention of his partner but the odds were stacked against him, he didn’t even know who she was and he doubted that he ever would. Then came that day…

It had been another sleepless night full of regret-filled dreams and the endless possible outcomes plaguing his mind; the hoodie he had chosen to hide the tired and dishevelled state he was in had sheltered him as he watched from the safety of the crowd of busy and loud students rushing towards their next class. There was no question as to why it had taken so long to see her as his partner. She had hidden her identity extremely well but that laugh that made his head snap towards her in that sea of hundreds of people… was her ultimate undoing.

And that’s when he saw her for what seemed like the first time. Twin tails, blue eyes a laugh that lit up a room. She was clumsy, late and could never seem to form a sentence around him up until… Until a few days before that rooftop conversation. She had a passion for clothes and videogames, she was kind and at times unsure of herself but most of all she was Marinette. The girl that sat behind him in class every day, his closest friend, the person he fought weird and unusual superpowered monsters/people with.

He knew who she was and he hated that he hadn’t seen it sooner. He hated that he had believed her when she was quite clearly nervous when she told him that she didn’t like him in that way all those months back at the wax museum even when all the evidence had said otherwise, it said that she was lying. He hated that he didn’t run after her when she left him and Kagami on that bridge, something had clearly been wrong but he had ignored it in favour of a good time. So many small events he wished he could go back and change just so she would never end up getting hurt.

The soft and gentle chirping of birds drifted in from his large open window to his ears pulling him from his self-pity. His eyes moved from the spot he had been looking at for several hours to look at the alarm clock beside the bed, it was, unfortunately, time to start the day. With a groan, he rolled out of bed and quickly got to work hiding the dark purple marks under his eyes the sleepless night had once again left him with. He picked up his phone and almost dropped his toothbrush, a small smile spread across his lips at the sight of the good morning text. It was from Marinette and had clearly been directed to everyone in the group chat he was apart of but that didn’t stop him from imagining that it was only meant for him.

With a bounce in his step, he picked up his school bag and made sure there was enough cheese in there to satisfy the spoiled black Kwami before he headed out the door ready for school. Well, as much as he could be in his state.

The car ride was uneventful as it was the same every morning. They passed the same houses and streets, the same people as he was driven to the school that had changed so much of his life. His eyes were constantly drawn back to the lock screen of his phone; the morning message was still there as he didn’t want to unlock it and lose sight of it being there. For the first time in a while, he felt like everything was going to be okay. He was happy.

The car came to a stop and he hopped out of the car, he waved to his driver getting a small one in response. Wearing his award-winning smile he rushed up the concrete steps of the school. He was ready for the day, ready to take on whatever the day could throw at him. He took one last deep breath before he pushed on the wooden doors, his emerald green eyes found her instantly and his smile dropped.

His heart shattered into a million pieces at the sight of them holding hands, she was leaning against him, her joyful laughter reached his ears when someone within the group around them told what he assumed was a joke.

He stood frozen and fresh tears fought their way to the surface, he had to force himself to look away before they ran freely down his makeup covered cheeks. He thought he was over this by now, there was no need for the tears, she was with Luka, he knew this, nothing had changed in the past few months, they weren’t suddenly going to break up just because he was in love with her.

Slowly he tried to regain his composure, he spun on his heels and exited out the school gates he had just entered through. He didn’t hear the frantic and fast sounds of someone running after him, he was trying not to let his emotions let the better of him.

Wiping the tears from his eyes he looked up to see the grey silver car still sitting in the same place. His pace quickened so he could reach the car before it pulled away from the school. He opened the car door and threw his bag in the care before sliding into the back seat.

“I’m not feeling well,” he mumbled trying to justify why he had returned as the seat belt clicked into place, still fighting the tears.

The silent man raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything, he just nodded in response and the engine roared to life with no questions asked.

Adrien relaxed into the expensive leather seat and he let his shoulders drop as the car pulled out onto the street on the short journey home. His lips wobbled, he didn’t fight the pain he was feeling and the tears he had been holding back flowed freely down his cheeks. Who was he kidding, she had Luka, someone who actually paid attention to her when he was too blind to see past a crush on a girl he only saw twice a week outside of Akuma attacks.

“I knew I wasn’t good enough…” he muttered to himself as he turned his head to watch the rows of brown and beige houses and apartments fly past his window.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he reached down and plucked it from his jeans, weakly tossing it across to the seat beside him without looking at it; it was probably Nino asking where he was, he could tell his friend what had happened later, right now he just wanted to go home and curl up in a ball under the covers and forget about the world around him.

-x-

Marinette watched as the grey car drove away from the front of the school. Her voice was hoarse and begged for water as she once again called his name, trying to attract his attention but it was useless. Her heart raced frantically in her chest and a wave of despair washed over her as the car grew smaller and smaller before it disappeared from view around one of the many corners in Paris.

Her eyes flickered down to the phone she clutched tightly in her hand, the urgent text she had sent to hadn’t gotten a response yet and she was starting to worry, she hoped he was okay, she had seen the tears in his eyes as he arrived…


	3. Chapter Three

She tapped the screen of her phone and it lit up but no new messages showed on the lock screen, her texts remained unanswered, just like they were mere moments ago when she last checked. With a sigh, she reluctantly picked up her pen and tried to focus on the math homework that sat open on the table in front of her but her mind kept wandering its way back towards him.

In the time she had known him, not once had she seen him cry. Saddened by things? Yes but he had always bounced back within a few hours and it had never been enough to bring tears to his eyes. Whatever had gotten to him had to be bad. No new messages or social media updates came from him, it was radio silence, something that was new to everyone around him; he had never left them in the dark for this long before and she had a sinking feeling in her stomach that something was wrong.

She knew something had to be going on behind the strong facade he showed the world and that he wasn’t as happy as he wanted everyone to believe. Over the past few weeks, he had been distant with her and not the usual inseparable pair they once had been. He gradually retreated further and further into himself, the jokes he once managed to sneak into every conversation disappeared and avoided her like the plague when Luka was around. If he couldn’t escape then his words would be short and nonexistent. He became a whole other person when her boyfriend was around and she tried to find out what had happened but that only seemed to make the strained relationship between them worse.

It hurt her more than she liked to admit seeing him like this, seeing him retreat away from the friends he had fought to obtain. The life he built was slowly falling apart because of something. She wanted to know what was going on inside his head so she could try and fix it so that he would hopefully return to the boy that she had fallen in love with all those months ago.

Her eyes glanced over to the sleepy Kwami asleep on her pincushion then up at the trapdoor. The temptation to call those magic-filled words and run towards the cream walls of the Agreste mansion soon overwhelmed her. The small amount of self-restraint she had left was the only thing stopping her from following through with that idea, there was probably a reasonable explanation as to why he wasn’t responding to her texts and there was no need to transform.

Her eyes flickered over to the screen again the lack of response was slowly starting to eat away at her resolve. She let out a defeated groan and picked up the phone, her fingers rapidly tapped away at a new message although she was sure it was most likely going to end up the same way as the last five but she wasn’t going to give up trying to get a response from the blond boy. With the new message sent she placed the phone down at once again tried to return to the work in front of her, however, she still glanced over to the black screen every few minutes as her concern steadily grew and grew until it was too much for her to deal with.

She slammed the heavy textbook shut, arousing the sleeping Kwami from her rest with a start. “Marinette?” she asked, her high pitched voice was thick with sleep and she was struggling not to yawn, “What’s-”

“I need to transform, Tikki. I can’t stand the silent treatment, I have to know what’s wrong,” she explained, throwing on slightly warmer clothes to help keep her warm on her short journey across the city. “I have to know if he’s okay,” she whispered under her breath as she swung her purse onto her shoulder.

“What about-” the Kwami tried to interject but the words of the transformation cut her off as she was pulled into the earrings Marinette wore.

Soon the vibrant red and black spotted suit was pulled over her body replacing the clothes she wore every day. A red mask appeared across her face hiding her identity from the world around her as well as protecting her from a supervillains wrath and the powerful yo-yo, replaced her small purse on her hip.

Her feet carried her up the steps towards her bed than out the small trap door above to the cold air of dusk. The hairs on her covered arms and legs stood up leaving goosebumps in their wake. Braving the cold, she leapt across the rooftops towards the sandstone walled house, her heart raced uncontrollably as she ran. She knew the rooftops better than the back of her hand and yet here she was, tripping and stumbling over loose rocks and tiles like it was her first time.

Her mind struggled to come up with why he was avoiding her and the rest of his friends. She wondered if his recent break up was the cause of his distance. Was he avoiding her because of her tight bond to Kagami? She had been told that the breakup was a mutual decision and there were no hard feelings but that didn’t stop the usually cold demeanour girl from coming to her with tears in her eyes from her recent heartbreak. She hadn’t seen the same with Adrien but something had caused him to change she just needed to know what.

Slowly she came to a stop across the street to the tall, rectangular windows that lead into the boy’s room. She watched from the sanctuary of the rooftops as he paced back and forth across the room, muttering to himself. He paused for a moment and turned towards her. Her eyes met his from across the street and her heart leapt out of her chest as he sent a small wave towards her, she had been spotted.

With the help of her yo-yo she swung over to a nearby tree, it’s branches and thick leaves providing a perfect place for her to sit without the prying eyes of the public. There was no use hiding away on top of the rooftops now and she might as well talk to him.

She smiled sweetly at the blond model as he opened a nearby window for her but that smile quickly disappeared when she saw what state he was in.

He kept his gaze away from her so she wouldn’t be able to see the full extent of his sadness but even that didn’t work; his normally bright emerald green eyes were dulled and bloodshot and she could still see the remains of the tears that had tracked their way down his bright red and puffy cheeks. He looked tired and like he hadn’t been able to sleep but his hair looked like he had just woken up. His clothes were not the same ones he had been wearing earlier, they were a lot more ragged looking and were missing some threading in places and definitely something his father would ever allow him to wear out in public.

Her eyebrows furrowed and a wave of sadness washed over her. She wanted nothing more than to pull him into a hug and make the pain he was clearly feeling away but the limitations of the red suit she was wearing mode her stop, she wasn’t Marinette in that moment, she was Ladybug.

“Hi…” his voice trailed, she could see the confusion across his face at the sight of her being there, “What are- What are you doing here?”

She paused for a moment, she hadn’t expected to get this far. “I-” she started, her mind struggled to come up with a reason as to why she was there.

If she was Chat it would be easy, he was known to travel around the city talking to civilians and she could pass it off as that but Ladybug wasn’t known for it… She was known as the distant one and rarely was she seen outside of the Akuma and Amok attacks. It wasn’t because she didn’t want to, she had done that in the early days of being one of Paris’s famed heroes but when she started to learn more and more about the magic jewellery she wore, she slowly backed away and her recent responsibilities as the Guardian only added to her caution but still she tried to be as involved as her partner.

“It was one of my friends wasn’t it?” he asked, snapping from the spell she had put herself under, “They asked you to check on me?” his voice still sad and distant.

She nodded, using his excuse to her advantage and to hide who she was. “Yeah… They’re concerned… Very concerned.”

He nodded his head slowly, “sounds like them…”

She frowned again and nodded, “yeah… maybe you should talk to them? Tell them what’s wrong, maybe they coul-”

His eyes widened and he quickly shook his head causing her to stop in her tracks, “no! No! I’m fine,” he tried insisting, “Just- Never mind, can we talk about something else? I really don’t want to talk about me right now”

“Okay…” she replied, she didn’t want to push him. She learned the hard way that he crumbled under pressure and it was best to get it the information she was seeking out of him slowly.

She racked her mind as she struggled to find something to talk to him about. He knew practically everything about Marinette, so finding a topic that he would have no knowledge about was very difficult. Maybe he would chalk up the similarities to just similarities but there was still a chance that he wouldn’t. She didn’t want to take that chance.

“I- I can’t find something to talk about,” she admitted, “Everything I could tell you would mean giving away parts about myself that would allow you to track me down in some sort of way.”

He nodded, understanding her predicament before she saw his eyes light up and she knew he had come up with something, “Maybe you should talk about your day… Like how was it? Good? Bad?”

She smiled, “Well, it was alright, I was worried that I wouldn’t pass a surprise test but I got one of the highest scores in class.” He nodded and she continued. “I spent lunch with my friends but our attention was on the test that we were all sure we had failed,” the smile across her face grew as she started to remember the events of the day she had just had.

It felt strange to be talking to him in the suit. She had never done this before. Talking to people as Ladybug. She had always seen the suit as a responsibility and never as something she could use for her own selfish reasons. Surprisingly it was freeing. She didn’t need to be somewhere and it felt nice to just open up to someone who couldn’t put the puzzle pieces of who she might be together.

“We went for ice cream and managed to track down Andrè, so that was nice before we headed to the movies.” She shivered as a cold breeze weaved its way through the tree she was sitting in, reminded her just how cold it was.

“Would you like to come inside?” he asked extending his open palm towards her, he too had noticed the cold.

She nodded as another much stronger breeze came her way. She clenched her teeth to stop them from chattering before she took his hand. His grasp was surprisingly strong as she was hoisted in through the window and into the large bathroom. She felt the cold tiles underneath her feet as she was quickly lead further within the walls of the large and cold room towards the main room.

Her eyes scanned the familiar walls, no matter how many times she entered the room the sight still surprised her. She had no idea how he lived like this. The room barely had anything that he was personally interested in, he had his fencing trophies proudly shown off on various shelves among some small collectables he had been allowed to have. The arcade cabinets although cool, were, to her knowledge, only ever played with when he had friends over. The rest of the sports equipment within the room most likely had the same treatment, unused and only there to keep him entertained when the bookshelves above her head filled with hundreds of books and video games failed to keep his attention.

She turned towards him and pretended to continue to take in the sights around her, she noticed that a smile had returned to his face and the sight alone warmed her heart.

“How…” she trailed off as the question she had wanted to ask for several years but never did because she knew that this was one was a tough question to answer for him to answer and he would most likely to avoid it but she was in the bright red suit and didn’t have a connection to him that he knew of meaning she would probably get an answer from him. “How did you live like this? The large room, it’s way too large.”

He shrugged, “I guess I’m used to it, I’ve always lived within the walls of this room so haven’t known any different but at times it does feel a little too large and very empty…” he admitted.

She couldn’t help but silently laugh at the fact that he only found it a little too large and not extremely.

Timidly she ventured a little further into the room where her eyes fell upon the large grand piano. She remembered the last time she heard him play and memories of the day that she would rather forget for many reasons and wouldn’t for many more. She headed towards it and her fingers swept across the last few keys, causing the lower notes to ring out into the silent and tense air in the room.

“The last time I heard someone play was the day I lost someone among other things…”

“My mother…” she turned her head slightly towards him. He hadn’t moved from his place in the hallway, his gaze firmly fixed on the large instrument she was still running her fingers over. “When she was here, she would play all the time. The last time I heard her play was when she was struggling with her dizzy spells.”

“How long before…”

He shrugged his shoulders, “maybe a day or two before? I can’t quite remember but it was close to it,” he explained, slowly making his way over to her. He too ran his fingers over a few keys before sitting down.

She watched carefully as his fingers slowly made their way across the keys. A soft melody filled the air in tracing her. It was sad and she could tell it was trying to tell her his emotions, the inflections of some of the notes and the descending of others, she soon started to get the impression that it was telling her the tale of a forbidden love, spending time with Luka had taught her that so she listened intently as he played.

Slowly the song drew to a close and Marinette had to reach up and wipe away the tear that was slowly making its way down her cheek before he noticed that he had managed to bring her to tears.

“That-” she stuttered, “That was beautiful.”

He let out a deep breath to regain his composure before turning his head towards her, a smile had once again wiggled its way onto his face. “Thank you, I don’t often have an audience.”

She smiled and nodded before turning her eyes to look out at the window as the sun slowly started to set, it was about time that she should leave, her parents would be calling her down for dinner soon at she didn’t want to alarm them by suddenly being gone.

Adrien seemed to realise this too as his eyes met the floor and his voice became barely audible, “you have to go… Don’t you?”

She reluctantly nodded, “I do, I have people expecting me.”

He nodded his head in response, he was disappointed, she could tell and her heart went out to him. She wanted nothing more but to stay and continue talking to him. She had learned a lot about a boy she had believed that she had known everything about.

“Maybe we can do this again?” she asked, hoping that he would agree as he had no idea how much weight talking to him had taken off of her chest.

He once again nodded and guided her towards the still open window. She looked at him one last time before stepping out onto the ledge as her yo-yo attached itself to a chimney.

“Thank you… For today,” he said, “Even if we didn’t talk about what you were asked to come here for.”

She smiled as she felt her yo-yo grow taught, “Any time,” she replied before swinging away back home.

-x-

Her eyebrows crinkled in bewilderment and alarm at the sound of a pot crashing and then shattering above her, she was fully awake now as her heart started to race uncontrollably from the potential threat above her. Slowly she reached over to her sewing draw and pulled the sharpest scissors she could find from them. She sent a look towards her also full awake Kwami before carefully standing up and silently making her way up towards her trapdoor, clutching the sewing instrument tightly within her grasp.

Cautiously she opened the glass trapdoor, she held her breath and expected the worse but her fear quickly dissolved at the reassuring sight of the familiar figure of her partner.

“Chat?” she asked, confused as to why her cat-eared partner was doing on her balcony in the early hours of the morning on what was clearly a school night.

He jumped at the sound of her voice, indicating that something was wrong. Marinette could count on one hand how many times someone had been able to sneak up on her partner, Akuma’s and other heroes included. Her eyes drifted away from him to the remains of the orange terracotta pot were scattered all around him as well as more soil and sadly the flowers that had been held within. She let out a disappointed sigh at the thought of having to spend a few hours the next morning trying to revive what she knew was an already dead plant.

Quickly she pulled her eyes back to her crumbled partner as he whimpered slightly from the pain he was obviously in, she threw open the trap door and crawled her injured partner and started brushing away some of the dirt and rock that had found its way into his hair.

She pulled away a stray flower still stuck in his hair, “Are you okay Chat?” she asked.

His cheeks had been stained with dirt, she reached over to wipe away the remains of his misadventure only for him to pull away from her.

“I- Sorry, I- I didn’t mean to, I’ll pay for-” he sounded like a small child who knew they were in trouble for something and was desperately trying to apologise to lessen the severity of the punishment he was about to receive, “I’ll pay for it to be replaced, I promise, just-” he cut himself off. She watched as his ears drooped, his shoulders slumped in defeat and he let out a deep sigh, “I’ll just go…”

He pushed her away slightly and stumbled to his feet. She took a step towards him when she watched him grit his teeth from his pain as he turned to leave already pulling his baton from his back. Marinette struggled to catch his flicking tail trying her best to stop him from leaving. Something was on his mind, she had been trying to find out what was on his mind as Ladybug for a very long time and now it seemed like he was ready to open up even if it wasn’t to the side she wanted him to.

Her hands frantically reaching for his weapon. Her heart raced and she watched in slow motion as he grew further and further away from her. “Please don’t leave,” she whimpered, her words alone stopped him in his tracks. She racked her mind to try and come up with an excuse to get him to stay. “Did- Did you want to come inside? Maybe for some video games?”

A smile spread across her lips at the sight of his ears perking up and she knew he had taken the bait. Slowly she retreated back down into the safety of her much warmer room with her partner in toe. His heavy boots causing the metal steps she had silently descended to ring out loudly behind her was the only indication she had that he was still following her.

She immediately started to load up a game for them both to play, she had no idea what video games he liked although she knew he liked them so she went with one that she could mindlessly play while trying to get to the bottom of what had happened to her partner. The loading screen of Mecha Strike III was proudly shown across the screen and she heard an excited hiss as her hands fumbled to pull the two controllers from the drawer she had stashed them in.

Chat headed over towards her spare chair and pulled it in front of the small screen, its small plastic wheels were loud on the floorboards were wheeled across them causing her to wince slightly from the noise.

She handed him the controller and pressed play. She decided that it was probably best if she went easy on him so she could best gauge his skill. Her bot landed a few attacks on his and soon it was close to the edge of its life were out of nowhere his bot seemingly sprang to life. It landed attack after attack on her’s and she was struggling to defend herself from then. She watched helplessly as the health bar above her bot steadily started to decrease further into the red, desperately she was clinging to life but she had severely underestimated the skill of her opponent.

He burst out laughing at her shocked and opened mouth face. Her eyes stayed fixed on the screen as her bot met its end to his. He quickly stood up and cheered at his victory, he danced around a little and rubbed his small victory in her face while her eyes met the floor when she realised that she had forgotten what his laugh sounded like, she couldn’t recall the last time she heard it, she knew it had been several months. He was another person that had grown distant towards her. It was surprising how many people she was starting to lose but this one however she admitted was mostly on her part.

Her mind had been on the new boy that had captured her heart and not on preserving the relationship between her and her superhero partner but she knew that it wasn’t the only cause for the distance. They were still trying to navigate the rocky and unsure ground their recent relationships had brought them, they had both agreed that the flirty way they used to speak to each other would no longer fly. They had two other people to consider but it was extremely difficult to stop those old and familiar ways, not when it was so easy to forget the promise they had made to their significant others. Most of the time Marinette didn’t even notice that she was doing it, it was only after she had left the blond-haired boy’s side did she and once she did, the feeling of guilt never left her.

She loved Luka, she really did, he was kind and sweet and truly cared about her but as the distance grew between her and her partner she found herself and her heart chasing after him, causing some distance to grow between her and Luka. The texting although frequent wasn’t as frequent as it used to be and they hadn’t been on a real date in months. The relationship had grown dull and stagnant and she was fine with that, she knew relationships occasionally did this but now as she laughed and smiled with her partner and with the fact he was starting to act more and more like the way he used to before they started dating, she came to the conclusion that she was pretty sure she was starting to fall out of love with the guitarist, she was no longer completely happy with Luka and her world came crashing around her, she was crushed.

She knew that she couldn’t keep this to herself. Luka had to know what was going on inside her head, he had to know what she was feeling. It wasn’t fair to him if he didn’t know that she was having second thoughts about the relationship.

Carefully she placed the controller down, Chat gave her an odd look out of the corner of his eye but she ignored it in favour of heading up the steps to the double bed she slept on. She reached over above the headboard and retrieved her phone from the small shelf. Her ears picked up the sound of Chat’s boots climbing the steps behind her.

“I’m sorry…” he started before she could explain what she was doing, “I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s fine, Chat,” she replied, trying her best to reassure him, “I just realised that I had forgotten to text someone.”

He nodded his head but his ears drooped once again.

“I promise, Chat, you’ve done nothing wrong.”

He nodded again but his ears still stayed against his blond locks.

Her eyebrows furrowed and she patted the spot on the bed beside her, indicating that she wanted him to sit down. He let out a sigh and reluctantly sat down beside her, his eyes on the phone screen as she typed away a coded text to Luka. She got a question mark in response but the boy agreed that they needed to talk.

As soon as she read the message she immediately turned the phone off and turned to the cat-eared boy beside her. “So?” she asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Marinette, I don’t-”

“You broke my favourite flower pot,” it wasn’t but she needed him to talk, “it’s the least you could do.”

He sighed, “I’m in love with someone… but they’re dating someone,” her heart dropped because although he didn’t say it, she knew that Ladybug was the person he was referring to, it would make sense as to why he was also avoiding her if his feelings had come back. “I can’t- It hurts to hear or see them together. I thought coming here might help me forget about it.”

A sad smile pursed her lips, “Have you-”

“Told her?” he asked cutting her off, “No, I can’t bring myself to do it, she’s happy and that’s all I’ve ever wanted for her, I don’t want to tell her and make her feel guilty that she can’t return my feelings. I know that I’ll soon get used to it it’s just…”

“Hard?”

He nodded and slowly Marinette leaned over and wrapped her arms around him, where he started to silently sob, she whispered a few reassuring words as the tears fell; she had no idea how to comfort her crying partner, so settling for words was the only thing she could think of.

She had no idea how much time had passed but she soon registered that he had fallen asleep in her arms. Carefully she lifted up the blankets and with a little bit of Tikki’s help she tucked him in. He whimpered slightly in his sleep and a few more tears fell during the night, she cradled him throughout the night and well into the morning as the orange rays steadily made its way into the darkroom. She let out a yawn as her eyes slowly gave into the warm embrace of sleep.

-x-

Adrien stared into the blue eyes of the Kwami, then at the green eyes of his own. Sheepishly retreated back into the warm embrace of the girl he loved, he could deal with the fallout later, right now he wanted to spend as much time as he could enjoying this.


	4. Chapter Four

Marinette tapped the screen of her phone as she anxiously waited for her boyfriend to show up. He was late, incredibly late but at least she had the constant and almost never-ending texts from Adrien to keep her entertained. He had seemingly returned back to his normal self although she still sensed that he was still hiding something, maybe a few more visits from Ladybug might shake it loose.

Her phone chimed as another text from Adrien came through causing her smiled to come back in full force as she rolled her eyes at his silly joke. She tapped away a snarky message in response before returning her phone to its place on the table with the screen down.

She smiled at the waitress as she brought Marinette her third iced tea for the afternoon, it had lost its taste but she couldn’t be bothered to order anything else. She reached over and pulled the glass towards her, taking a sip. Her phone chimed again and she quickly flipped it over only to see that it another text from Adrien, she flipped it back over and stared off into space.

She had no idea what to say to him. Whatever she did say would absolutely hurt him. Her mind struggled to come up with a way to say everything gently, she wanted to make sure that he wasn’t hurt too badly. The last thing she wanted was him turning into an Akuma, it would break her more than the breakup itself to see him in that way, she didn’t want to fight him.

Her eyes scanned the street through the window beside her, people hurried past holding umbrellas in their hands in preparation for the dark, looming thunderstorm that was rolling across Paris.

She spied the boy she was looking for across the street, she smiled and waved, attracting his attention. She watched as a smile spread across his lips before he carefully made his way towards her.

The tiny bell above the door rang announcing his entrance to the cafe, “Sorry…” he said sitting down across from her and placing the guitar in the seat next to him.

She let out a deep sigh as she checked the time on her phone. Two hours late and he showed up with his guitar, something she had told him not to do. She knew he would try and play it in an attempt to win her back and she didn’t want this to be any harder than it already was.

She waited until he had settled and a waitress had taken his order and brought it to him before she spoke.

“We…” she started, her fingers playing with the straw in her almost empty cup.

“Need to talk? I know, you said that last night. At four am,” he quickly added.

She nodded, wincing as she hadn’t realised what time it had been.

“Well, I’m all ears.”

She gulped down her pride as well as her fear, “Luka… I- I think we should break up. We- We,” she struggled to find the words to explain what was going on inside her head.

His eyes flickered down to the table and she knew what she had done, it hurt and probably hurt him more. They had been together for eight months, eight beautifully sweet months and eight months that had helped shape her into who she was today. He had helped her accept parts of herself, her clumsy side and the part of her that stuttered when she was nervous, parts that she had grown frustrated with when they constantly got in the way of her goals. He had helped her so much and yet here she was breaking his heart.

She waited for him to say something. What was really seconds were very long and painful minutes to her. She wanted him to yell and scream at her from the pain, curse her out, call her names, let his anger out upon her for breaking his heart but he didn’t and that made it hurt even more.

He pulled his eyes up and looked her in the eyes, his eyes were red and were clearly holding back tears but he still didn’t do what she wanted him to. He smiled and nodded his head, accepting her decision and his fate.

“It’s the distance, isn’t it?” he asked cutting straight to the chase.

She nodded, “Yeah…” It was part of it but she didn’t want to tell him that she was slowly falling in love with someone else.

He nodded again, “I felt it too, I guess I too was in denial.”

She nodded and she felt some tears try and fight their way to the surface, “I’m sorry-”

“Don’t be,” he quickly said cutting her off, “I want you to be happy and you’re right, we should, it isn’t healthy for us.”

A smile tugged at her lips as she continued to fight the tears that threatened to roll down her cheeks.

“I hope we can still be friends, Marinette, you’re an amazing person and I don’t want to lose you,” he explained and Marinette continued to nod, “Adrien will be lucky to have you.”

She sent him a puzzled look in shock at his comment. What gave him that impression? She and Adrien were just friends nothing more and he hadn’t given her the impression that he was in ‘love’ with her. Sure he made a few flirty comments here and there but they were just comments, weren’t they?

She heard Luka laugh slightly from across the table.

“I see how he looks at you, it’s the same way you used to look at him. And I know you made it a point not to ‘show’ off a happy relationship around him when his ended because you didn’t want him to be reminded of it. You still care for him and in a way, I think you still love him.”

As if on cue her phone chimed beside her, she flipped it over to see the familiar contact name displayed across the screen as several more texts came through.

“Go Marinette,” the boy in front of her said. “Go, chase after him, I’m happy for you.”

She looked up, smiled and nodded, although she was still confused. What he was saying couldn’t be true, could it? Adrien couldn’t be in love with her, could he?

Marinette reached down and pulled her purse from its place on the floor being extra careful not to hurt the Kwami within. She stood up, placed a kiss on his cheek and rushed towards the door, she paused for a second gave Luka one last look before she pushed against the glass door. The cold air hit her instantly but she ignored it in favour of sorting through the multitude of thoughts currently racing through her head.

-x-

Adrien couldn’t escape the gaze of the angry Kwami, he knew he shouldn’t have gone to her place but he couldn’t stop himself, he needed to see her again and o how it was worth it. Waking up with her curled up on his chest was a sight he swore to never forget and never forget he did because he couldn’t escape it. It haunted his every waking thought even though it was only a few hours ago and he wanted to go back but he didn’t dare piss off the tiny black Kwami by returning. Plagg had made it clear that he would lose the ring if he did, he wasn’t supposed to know who she was and Plagg had been lenient so far, he couldn’t keep the fact he knew from his best friend for very long after he found out and agreed to keep it a secret but going to her was pushing the envelope. Now he was forever begging for forgiveness from the powerful god-like creature in hopes that he would keep the silver ring he wore so he would be able to see her.

He wandered his way towards the large windows, the dark grey clouds gave the sight an ominous feel to what was normally a happy view. He wanted to escape the suffocating feeling the large room was giving him, his eyes ventured away from the clouds above and back to the Kwami sitting on his coffee table happily munching away at the cheese he had been offered in an attempt to regain favour with him. He was tempted to ask the Kwami if he could transform but he knew the creature would take it as him trying to find a way to see Marinette again so it was out of the question.

His eyes moved past the Kwami towards the thin layered jacket resting on the back of his chair. Walking right out the front door was his only option.

He crossed the room within seconds, snatched the piece of clothing and quickly slid it on. Plagg caught on to what his wielder was planing and managed to slip into Adrien’s coat before he exited the bedroom where Adrien found the foyer empty when he exited. He didn’t dare call out and alert Natalie, his bodyguard or even his father that he was planning to leave the house. His heart raced within his chest as his footsteps echoed slightly off the marble walls as he descended the steps but even that didn’t draw the attention of the other members of the house. Every little sound within the house caused him to jump, from the almost muted whispering coming from within his father’s office to the distant sound of the pots and pans coming from the chief’s preparing for dinner.

He looked back at the house one last time, to make sure he wasn’t seen before he pushed against the wooden door, he was almost home free. He continued, pushing against the iron gates and yet he still wasn’t stopped. His footsteps carried him down the streets while the clouds above echoed and boomed as they threatened to dump the water held within on the streets of Paris but his heart continued to race, he expected for the grey car he was forced to ride around in to come pulling up beside him with Natalie holding a tablet with his father’s face displayed but that didn’t happen. He was allowed to walk freely down the almost empty streets of Paris.

He stared up as the raindrops started to fall, it was slow at first but that soon changed as his clothes quickly turned from dry to dripping water from the rain. He whimpered as his body started to shiver, he heard complaints from the tiny creature in his pocket so he reached in and pulled the Kwami out of his hiding spot and moved him closer to his chest to try and keep him warm as they walked.

He kept his eyes on the concrete pavement in front of him, only looking up every few minutes to make sure he hadn’t wandered back towards home.

His mind drifted towards her, he knew he had to tell her how he felt, technically he did the night before but… Marinette needed to know that Adrien was in love with her. He couldn’t go on anymore without her knowing because it was starting to eat away at him.

He wrapped his arms tighter around him as the shivering got worse. Adrien glanced up and he couldn’t believe the timing, there she was, just a little bit further down the street. His heart raced and his feet were moving towards her before he knew it.

“Marinette!” he called running up behind her, the rain dripping from his hair but he didn’t care, he needed to tell her.

She turned to face him, clutching the black umbrella tightly within her grasp. She opened her mouth to greet him but he cut her off, he couldn’t stand to look at her as the words came flying out of his mouth so they picked a random stone in the small puddle forming at his feet to focus on.

“Marinette, I- I can’t take this any more. I spend every day wishing, wanting you to be mine and I know that you’re with Luka and I’m happy that you’re happy but I need to tell you this, I haven’t forgotten about that day, sitting on that building and finding out that I had broken your heart. It hurt finding out that I had hurt you and made you feel like I would never notice you when that’s the complete opposite, I was blind and I admit that there was nothing I wanted more than to go back in time and change what I had done and I know that I can’t but it hurt even more when you started dating Luka and I bit my tongue but seeing you every day with him. I couldn’t handle it, I can’t handle it, I love you.” A weight felt like it had been lifted from his chest, “I love you,” he repeated as a loud clap of thunder boomed across the city causing him to jump slightly.

“Adrien?” she asked placing her hand on his shoulder calming the fear within him.

“Yes, Marinette?” he replied, slowly pulling his eyes from the street to face her, a tear had also managed to sneak its way out of her eye.

“Could you repeat that part?”

He scanned her face puzzled at what part she wanted him to repeat, his words repeated in his head over and over again until he came upon the sentence she wanted to repeat.

“Adrien?” her voice cooed, he was in trouble, he knew it, he had said too much.

“I-” he stuttered, knowing that he had broken the rule.

“Come here,” she said pulling him underneath the umbrella protecting him from the harsh rain falling around them.

He tried pulling away from her as he was concerned about getting her clothes wet but she held him in place. He fought against himself but eventually, he gave in and settled into her embrace.

“You’ve known who I am for a while… Haven’t you?” she asked.

He nodded his head against her, “Not as long as you think but… A while,” he replied, slowly wrapping his arms tighter around her. “Is this my umbrella,” he asked, as his eyes fell upon a small engraving on the handle causing her to giggle.

She nodded, “Yes, it’s the only one I had, did you want it back?”

He shook his head, “No, you can keep it,” he replied.

The rain grew heavier and heavier around them, water started racing down the streets of Paris running into the overflowing storm drains. Adrien cautiously peeked out from underneath the umbrella towards the extremely dark and slow-moving cloud above them.

“Maybe we should head back to the bakery,” she said, reading his mind.

He nodded in return pulling the umbrella from her grasp, “After you, My Lady.”

She smiled and wrapped her arm around his, “We have a lot to discuss, minou.”

He smiled and nodded again, “I think we do.”

-x-

Adrien yawned and stretched as the sun came through the trap door above him. He loved waking up here, he loved waking up next to her and he loved spending every day knowing that she owned his heart and he owned hers. He yawned again before rolling over slightly pulling her in closer, he was already being reclaimed by sleep. Today was going to be a great day.


End file.
